Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Haha! Artshouston Editor Frank Rose has been named in a lawsuit by the CCC alleging defamation over statements in a youtube video documenting the plight of residents of the Ponca Reservation. Go Frank! Fight the (Taiwanese manufacturing company) Man!

The Continental Carbon Company has filed a civil judgment in the Ponca City chapter of the Kay County District Court against Houston resident Frank Rose and 10 others identified as John Does asserting claims of defamation in a 16 minute video titled "Black Sky, White Eagle."

The video was posted on the Web site www.youtube.com Nov. 28, 2006, and as of today has been viewed 2,964 times. (Since publication that has risen to 3,753)

The carbon company operates a production facility near White Eagle and manufactures carbon black materials used in tires and other applications.

In the petition, attorneys for the carbon company state that the video contains multiple false, deceptive and misleading statements and visual representations which defame the company.

The video contains interviews with White Eagle residents and former employees of the plant and interviews with officials from the Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ would not comment directly on the video.

Skylar McElhaney, spokesperson for DEQ, said the reputation of DEQ speaks for itself and that DEQ does not intend to comment on every allegation made in the variety of formats available to people today.

The suit is seeking injunctive relief which requires defendants to stop publishing the video and prohibits the defendants from further publication of the video in the future.